Stop and search powers overhauled in Cambridgeshire after it emerges only 4% of stops lead to action

Cambridgeshire police has joined a scheme to drive down the abuse of stop and search powers.

The county force is adopting a voluntary Home Office scheme after it emerged just 4 per cent of stop and searches led to further action.

The move comes amid calls to scrap the powers entirely by a campaigner, and efforts by the Home Secretary and police forces to increase transparency.

Figures from Cambridgeshire last December show 29 arrests came from 954 stop and searches and 546 lef to no further action. However, 70 people were given formal warnings, 13 were fined for disorder and 242 were given 'advice'.

The force has admitted its usual arrest rate from stop and search was 4 per cent – the second lowest in the country.

Sir Graham Bright, Cambridgeshire's Police and Crime Commissioner, says the force's immediate implementation of new restrictions on the use of stop and search powers demonstrates clear commitment to the Peelian principles of transparency, integrity and accountability.

Cambridgeshire has signed up to the Home Secretary's new measures that restrict the 'no suspicion' powers, which allow officers to stop and search members of the public even when they do not suspect a crime has been committed.

Sir Graham said: "Cambridgeshire's immediate implementation of the new measures shows policing by consent at its best. We have a proud history of engaging with all of our communities positively. We must continue to do things the right way by dealing with everything, including stop and search, in a fair, transparent and accountable way."

Ken Hinds, of Haringey Stop and Search Monitoring Group, said he had been stopped by officers more than 120 times in the past 30 years, accusing officers of using racial profiling.

The changes are being brought in after Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) found that 27 per cent of stop and searches nationally did not contain reasonable grounds for suspicion, meaning that more than 250,000 of the one million searches carried out last year could have been illegal.

Insp Ian Ford, of Cambridgeshire police, said: "The scheme is designed to improve public confidence and trust around this intrusive but important power.

"We are in a strong position to adopt these new measures as we have many of the features already in place."

The force has used the powers to tackle London drug dealers cashing in on the high-price of heroin and crack cocaine in Cambridge. Officers deployed 'stop and search' tactics in the city this year in an effort to drive out the dealers.

City police raided at least three homes suspected of housing dealers seizing both Class A and made several arrests.

The views of young people on stop and search are also being sought by the force. People aged 10-34 years old are invited to complete a survey at www.surveymonkey.com/s/cambspolstopandsearch by Wednesday, September 17.

2 comments

You stop people for good reason to see if there might be an issue, it's not designed to be a matter of always arresting someone.
This story is based on actual arrests, if you include the results of other searches that have an actual result the hit rate is much higher. But the numbers don't add up, there's 54 people stopped that don't come under either category.